Jackson West’s Obsessive Compulsion

Got distracted one morning earlier this week when a catty gossip session broke out over email amongst some old high school friends about a classmate who turned up on television. But it served to remind me that a) I have really funny, cool friends b) those friends make funny, cool stuff that you should buy. Case in point, Thor’s “Red Eye, Black Eye.”

Don’t trust me? Well someone at Publisher’s Weekly called it “one of the first important graphic novels of 2007” and even someone at the Beeb liked it. The Beeb! They’ve never said anything nice about me. Though Thor does in my brief appearance in the book. (Not exactly a shining moment, but hey, look, I’m part of Art!)

And while you’re in the money-spending mood, go buy other stuff by Thor. You’ll be glad you did. Oh, and buy my friend Pauls’ book, too — it’s in paperback now, ya cheapskate.

This week has been hectic to say the least. Here’s a quick roundup of what I’ve been up to:

• Entered the Vlog Deathmatch with a “music video.” I mashed up a couple of samples and some shaky footage into something only a VJ could love.
• Posted pictures from my trip last week — for some reason I couldn’t email photos from my phone while in New York.
• I made a return to SFist after a long, long hiatus, answering a few questions from Jeremy who along with Matt is doing a great job editing the site.
• Thanks to new Twitter friend Ariel Waldman, I got an I’m In Like With You invite and posted my first game. Let the technoflirtation commence!
• Finally, my debut for the SFGate is out on the Culture Blog, making me another writer in a long line of San Francisco hacks who mocked Hearst only to end up in his pay. If you can’t beat em…

See you at the Maker Faire in San Mateo on Sunday!

Tom Dolby, whom I interviewed back when he was a debut novelist and I was a newbie blogger, was nice enough to leave me on the press list. So when his latest came out, an anthology co-edited with Melissa de la Cruz titled “Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys” (complete with a hen and a pair of cocks on the cover), Penguin shipped me a proof and a hardback, and Tom invited me to a book release party at his family’s home in Pacific Heights.

Thankfully, it worked out that I was graciously chaperoned by self-admitted fag hag Min Jung Kim, who bitched like a queen all night about how it wasn’t nearly gay enough for her taste. Lest you think that her assessment was half-baked, Christopher Turner’s hubby Armistead Maupin lightheartedly agreed.

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Visiting New York City for the first time in seven years — longer than I lived here — has been an education all over again. It’s true about the olfactory sense being the strongest memory triggger. Stepping into the subway was like putting on a familiarly warm, wet, smelly sock. Of love.

It’s not just recognizing the buildings, but encountering a familiar scene and remembering very specific events that happened ten years ago.

“That’s where Pauls, Dave and I smoked clove cigarettes once. That restaurant used to be the Paris Commune, where I had two wonderful dinners with my mom. And that park is where I treated a kid I babysat to McDonald’s fries.”

And that was all at one corner on Bleecker and 7th Avenue. Layups and puking and making out and copping and buying vegetables and going to work, to class, to sleep, to Brooklyn.

Oh, I do love New York. But I’m glad I have an escape plan this time, and can enjoy it without the pressure of actually having to survive here. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll have to admire and respect New Yorkers for that feat from afar.

To celebrate May Day, I collected some clips of “L’Internationale,” including a trailer for a documentary about the song for some background. Versions include English, Russian, French, German, Irish, Spanish, Chinese and even a swingin’ jazz guitar instrumental.

Remember the martyrs of the Haymarket Massacre. And in the words of Che: “Hasta la victoria, siempre!”